At age 30, Andrea Samson lives a very active life filled with giving back to the community and personal accomplishments. Her journey has been filled with both challenges and opportunities. She has served as a certified EMT in three towns in New Jersey, where she lives, and in Pennsylvania over the past 11 years. She continues to serve with the River Edge, NJ Volunteer Ambulance Squad, where she was recently promoted to 2nd Lieutenant. She also assists once a month at the Long Hill EMT Squad.
Andrea comes from a close-knit family, whose roots are in Romania. Her grandparents are Holocaust survivors, and her parents came to the U.S. more than 40 years ago.
For the past ten years, she’s run a tutoring business, which she started while in high school. She helps young people, including under-privileged kids, with Math, Biology, Chemistry and Spanish. Andrea also loves dancing and she’s active in a dance club that specializes in kizomba, a dance genre that originated in Angola 50 years ago. She tours with the group, which has performed on Broadway and in dance festivals throughout the U.S.
Andrea has accomplished a lot, despite a rocky start. At age three, she was diagnosed with MPGN kidney disease, leading to an extended stay in intensive care where she nearly lost her life. With determination and willpower, she pulled through, relearning to walk and live like other children. When she was 14, her father gave her the gift of life by donating his kidney, allowing her to regain energy and embrace life more fully. But she continues to face struggles and recently her kidney started to fail and, over time, it is losing its function.
Andrea discovered her passion for medicine through shadowing doctors and witnessing transplants firsthand. This solidified her desire to become a doctor and help others. In her years as a certified EMT, she’s helped save several lives. She is currently finishing a Master’s degree in Acupuncture after receiving her BS in Biology at Lafayette College. She still hopes to enter medical school upon graduating from Acupuncture School, ultimately to have a practice healing with integrated Eastern and Western medicine.
Despite frequent hospitalizations from immunosuppressant treatments, she doesn’t let obstacles hold her back. “My ambition and drive push me forward, allowing me to overcome any challenge life throws my way,” she said.
A new kidney will help Andrea continue to live life to the fullest, while helping others.
Do you want to help Andrea? Please share the link to Andrea’s story or reach out to Kidneys for Communities at info@kidneysforcommunities.org to learn more about how you can help. The Kidneys for Communities team is here to answer your questions.
